3 ♊ Take your dark days

[iitrebel]

Who: Artolo Apemis and any Pride who will put up with him for an extended period of time
What: Art is going lion shopping. This is not slang of any sort. You've been invited.
When: Throughout the day of February 11th
Where: Roman's Animal Sanctuary
Warnings: None planned. Feel free to treat this as a mingle log

For there to be any extended space in Vista City, things tend to be... crowded. It's the obvious solution when a city gets big enough. Roman's Animal Sanctuary has the delightful honor of having established a space the size of a baseball field some time before the city swallowed it up. The problem became when they needed to expand, but simply couldn't.

The solution: Get with the times and build upwards.

With high ceilings on all floors meant to cycle through different times of day in accordance with actual daytime, enormous windows, and certain measures taken to mimic appropriate weather, Roman's is half a zoo (to help fund its upkeep) besides just being an animal sanctuary for various abused or abandoned animals of the more exotic sort.

This includes lions.

Coincidentally, lions are why you're here.

Somehow, one Artolo Apemis has invited you to go what he called "lion shopping" and that, as it turns out, is not slang even remotely. Roman's been alerted of this high profile visit from a bunch of Pride jackasses, and is more than happy to allow the musicians to check out some of the staff areas behind the scenes instead of just being stuck in the public areas. Yes, you can feed the publicly approved llamas and goats plus large animals with sharp teeth. Under strict supervision, of course.

Comments

Artolo Apemis - ota

[iitrebel]

Penthouse - closed to bandmates

[When Artolo wakes up that morning with the morning light being somehow more painful than usual, he initially just stuffs his head beneath his pillow and groans. He gets fucked up- regularly, even. It's his hangover. There's no better explanation. After a stunningly result-less encounter with some weirdo in a helmet, he'd gone to get hammered because there'd still been no solution to fixing Tooru's leg, and...]

[Being reminded of every shitty thing that's happened lately, with his side still giving pangs of pain, Artolo finally gets up with a hiss and heads right for the bathroom. Bending over, he starts up the sink... And jerks up so fast he think he nearly loses his brain through his nostrils.]

[His eyes are changed. Completely opaque, no pupils, no whatever the shit the white bit is called. One is completely red. The other, blue.]

[Artolo stares. And, with a lot more calm than he thinks his brain is really capable of, he raises his voice.]

I NEED AN ADULT.

Pride HQ

[Just when he thinks the day can't get any more surreal, it does. Repeatedly.]

[The first is, not too long after he had donned a pair of incredibly blocky and impossibly dark shades- not an uncommon site considering how often he gets hangovers and hates sunlight, thank fuck- is that An is happy to see him. That already means hell is frozen over. An is never happy to see him. At best, she seems to tolerate his existence and, lately, has not looked like she was contemplating murder on his person.]

[But no, she'd been beaming and proud and hadn't even spent a literal hour (at minimum) gussying him up. The reason had become obvious when she'd shoved him outside the penthouse and he'd come face to face with Surreal Bullshit #2. That had been one Lesedi Santiago standing there.]

[Thank god the others don't know she's here was the first thing to flicker through his mind, rapid and panicked.]

[The third... He now has a land, on the outskirts of Vista City, that has plenty of square feet and a house to it. He also now has permission to keep a lion there.]

[Which brings him to the now.]

[Everyone he knows in Pride- along with those he's dubbing as part of "Ghost Clusterfuck 2056" who'd been there with Tooru and Mai- will get a text.]

gettiing a lion. want 2 come?

[And for those who happen to be wandering in Pride HQ... They will find the miscreant in question lazily rolling along with an entire shopping cart full of milk bread. Said miscreant will glance at them and, out of nowhere, offer- ]

Want to get a lion with me?

Roman's Animal Sanctuary

[The deal is- he'll give Roman's a regular donation, and, in the event that he dies or something happens, the land he's just bought will be donated to them. (With the clause that, at any time, the following parties can stay there: his immediate family/descendents. Tooru Oikawa, Tamara Seward, Mai Valentine, Wolfram von Bielefeld, and- because sure, fuck it- Kiernan MacLeod. And their immediate family/descendents.) ]

[In return, he gets a couple of lions. ]

[That's the main reason he's here, and also why he's currently in a small bit of space surrounded by lion cubs. There are even ligers.]

[He seems pretty pleased.]

[cleartranquil]

is this a literal or metaphorical lion

y r u getting a lion

[iitrebel]

literal

bc ii can and no one is stoppiing me

Pride

[twoscompany]

[Garnet was...planning. Thinking. Wanderind down the halls, trying to calculate things, using her vision to help her. The possibilities are...not great. Not really. But they could be worse, much worse. They seem to slowly get better, save for a few of them, but she can't get her mind of off it, and she's not sure how to alleviate her nervousness about her idea.

Then there's some of the weird possibilities. Like Artolo. He asks for a smoke. A beer. A lion. A spaceship. A marriage proposal, complete with setting the hall on fire with fireworks he's shooting off, because he needs to cover the fact his true love is the individual from Virgo named--

So don't mind her walking five steps, stopping, then walking backwards three steps, before turning her head to look at him.

He...said lion, right? She did just hear him correctly, didn't she?]

...

Yes.

[Its better than the marriage proposal. Much, much better]

[iitrebel]

[As if some sort of reward, he flings a small pack of milk bread at her.]

Good choice. Want to invite anyone?

Penthouse.

[worthlesspride]

Technically you are one, Double A.

Why do you need one?

[And then...eyes.]

Holy shit.

[iitrebel]

[The second Tooru is in the house, Artolo kicks the bathroom door shut. An can go fuck herself.]

So I'm not tripping here?

Re: Artolo Apemis - ota

[psyvampexperiment]

Penthouse - Text message

Hmmm? Care to elaborate on needing an adult?

Animal Sanctuary - Log form

[This is a new experience for Sariel: he has vague memories of going to zoos with his family, but... nothing like this. A paradise for big cats really lets him see them in all their glory. And the ligers... adorable creatures, like lions with stripes.]

[Spotting Artolo, he can't help smiling.]

You certainly seem in your element, as much as the cats.

text

[iitrebel]

[Somewhere back in his room, his phone goes off, and Artolo curses under his breath. He still goes back for it anyway, squinting at the light from the windows that make his head pound worse. Maybe it'll be someone from the bar, telling him about colored contacts they convinced him to put in while he was drunk... or something.]

[But nope, just mister angel, and he sighs as he retreats back to the dimness of the bathroom.]

drunk shenaniigans and thats all i'll say

[scalpedsociety]

Penthouse

The screaming is enough to summon Tamara out of her own bed, and she walks toward him about to scream at him to shut the fuck up but she stands here with her mouth hanging open.

"Your eyes..."

She's never seen this before.

Sanctuary

These couple of weeks have been strange as hell. There were the ghosts, the weird conversation she had with Artolo about her name which still freaks her out, then two of her bandmates getting hurt or traumatized because they dared to help them out, Artolo's eyes got weird as hell... Throughout all this, she got a raise, but not like Artolo did. His own land and he wanted actual lions. Was this a distraction from how obviously cruel Pride was, her real name, and matter of Artolo's eyes? Possibly.

Still, it's hard to think about sobering things like that when there's lion and liger cubs, adorable furry oversized kittens. She thought the cat apartment was adorable. Surely enough she has one affectionate little one in her arms, snuggling it.

[iitrebel]

Rather promptly, he reaches over to tug her inside and kicks the door shut. That latter action is done perhaps a bit more violently than is exactly necessary.

"Hello! Yes! They're a thing!" And he doesn't know why they're a thing, which is freaking him out more than their actual existence.

[scalpedsociety]

It's kind of disturbing, what with his eyes all contrasting red and blue, even the sclera.

"Calm down... can you see?"

Sanctuary

[sailorlaughter]

Pinkie feels bad about leaving before they're even out of Pride HQ. But she's barely left the penthouse since Tiger came back and Kido left, and she can't stay inside anymore - she just can't.

She's pretty quiet during the trip, and once they're arrived she doesn't seem particularly interested in the lions and tigers that were the actual object of the trip. Instead she wanders off towards another part of the shelter. She can be found in a pen with a few ponies, kneeling down with her arms wrapped around the neck of a particularly calm gray mare. It's not an excited hug. She just seems to be holding onto the pony and talking quietly to it.

[iitrebel]

"Hey."

Unlike the usual rating arrogance he displays... just about anytime, anywhere, including the ride here, Artolo's own tone is pretty subdued when he finally figures out where Pinkie is. He's still wearing is thick sunglasses, which hide even his eyebrows, but he's frowning a bit.

"You alright over there?"

[sailorlaughter]

Pinkie sniffles, tilting her face away from the pony's neck to look at Artolo. "Yeah, I guess..." She doesn't sound entirely convinced; nor does she look like she's about to get up.

"I dream about ponies sometimes, but I've never really met one before." They aren't really dreams. It happens during the day, and she knows daydreams don't work like that. It just seems like the best way to put it. How do you explain to people that you think about being a pony a lot?

Re: Sanctuary

[twoscompany]

Garnet's own feelings about Steven are raw, hard, making her think and talk crazy about things she knows, deep down, she's potentially endangering herself with. Yet at the same time, she can't help but feel for Pinkie. She had Steven, and Kido, and she was taking care of them as well. It wasn't easy with one; with two, it's like being a pinball.

Garnet finds her in the pony pen, and when she gets to her, she bends down and brings a hand towards her shoulder.

"Hey there. You hanging in there?"

[sailorlaughter]

Pinkie swallows, turning her head to press her face into the pony's shoulder. Luckily the animal seems pretty tolerant of all this, even if it is nibbling on her hair a little bit.

"I don't know." She's not really...doing anything. Not really, and when's she ever done anything? Half the time she feels like she can barely even look at herself.

Sancutary

[worthlesspride]

[Tooru is a wheelchair, one that lifts up his right leg up to help with the swelling. He's hanging back because a) pushing himself in a wheelchair is hard, b) he's not in that good a mood. He's doing ... better.

He didn't want to leave Pride HQ, but he had been bribed with milkbread, which he was now eating.

And there were some birds eying him.]

Someone get those motherfuckers away from my milkbread.

[cleartranquil]

[ Yuffie is laying back in the grass with her hands behind her head. ]

You're paaaaaranoid.

[ Yuffie singsongs, never actually opening her eyes. She's fairly sure that the birds are not actually willing to go after his food. She's very likely to be proven wrong, but Yuffie is comfy. ]

They're not gonna do anything.

[worthlesspride]

[He clutches he clutches his milkbread to his chest.]

Birds like bread. And these are half tame, the worst combination with birds.

[iitrebel]

[Like the stellar best friend he is, Artolo suddenly dives at the nearest flock of birds with the kind of shriek that people from over in Virgo HQ could probably hear. Alarmed, the birds flap a good distance away, and he promptly straightens up with a smug grin.]

Did the thing.

[worthlesspride]

[He gives the birds a middle finger and stuffs his face with his bread. With his mouth full;]

You got your lions?

Sanctuary

[cleartranquil]

A
[ Yuffie had been literally obnoxious to be around pretty much this entire day, flitting around and following everyone like the problem child she is.

At the moment, Yuffie seems almost hellbent, trying to get one of the ostriches to notice her. She's sitting up on one of the fences after having been told to let them be three or four times. But Yuffie is determined.]

Heeeeey there. Heeey. [Someone might want to stop her from trying to sneak back into the pen.


B

[ Once she's finally been convinced to leave the birds alone, she actually goes to visit the lions. Yuffie ends up sitting with one, playing with it, and laughing at it's antics before she ends up putting her face against it's fur and-

She grips him around the neck tight enough to get her point across.

"Hey it hurts!"

"Geostigma hurts even more!"

"Yeah."

She lets go, but still remains draped over his back as he walks. His fur's coarse and smells like fire and dust and ---'s cigarette smoke from being with him, but she buries her face in it anyway. He doesn't seem to mind too much.

Yuffie's face is doing something horribly complicated when the green fades from behind her eyes, and Yuffie hugs the cub again, hiding her face in it's fur to try and pretend like she's not teared up.

Of all the people in the world to forget, she forgot Red.]

A

[traumatizing]

[Terry's only here because Yuffie described this trip as "stealing a lion" and if he can't talk her out of it, he should at least try to make sure she doesn't die.]

[(He's kind of disappointed they're not actually stealing a lion now he's here.)]

[But Yuffie's still a problem child who clearly needs supervision at all times, and Terry is frowning as he looks up at her on the fence with all the big brotherliness he's got in him.]

What are you doing?

Xanxus | OTA

[variaboss]

Scanturary
Was he actually invited to come along? Who knows. But somehow, Xanxus has shown up anyway. It has to do with cats. Very large cats. He's always loved cats. That seems true enough. There's just something about felines that make him a little gooey on the inside.

He is giddy as a school boy. No way he can actually afford a lion, even though he does have some money. But he'll be damned if he doesn't enjoy himself while he's here. He leans against one of the enclosure railings, watching some tigers at play.

"When I get rich enough, I'm going to build me a huge place. And on the grounds, I'm going to have a big cat rescue just like this one."

Later on, Xanxus can be found, where else, but with the liger cubs. He really really likes them. They're cute and fluffy and he really really wants one. There's a male one that's all white that he really really likes.

Please feel free to mock the normally unpleasant asshole as he cuddles with adorable kittens and baby talks them. Because he totally is. Cooing to the white one he's cuddling with. "Who's the bestest little kitty evers? You are. You're bester than every other kitty here."